Nursing in Public
Submitted by grisandole on Thu, 11/17/2005 - 05:00.
Recently,
my family attended a local historical event. It was an outdoor affair,
designed to recreate the history of our county from the 1600s through
the Civil War. We had a great time; there were re-enactments,
wonderful costumes, delicious food, and plenty of period knick-knacks
to drool over.
After we watched a re-creation of a battle from the French-Indian war, it was time for my little one to eat.span So I looked around, found a hay bale, and sat myself down.span I contemplated using the nursing canopy I keep in the diaper bag but dismissed the idea.span I didn’t care if anyone was offended.span My son and I went about our business and at first, no one paid us any attention.span Then a family started heading towards us - a husband, wife, and infant.span They made their way to our spot, and I braced myself for a look of surprise or disgust, or perhaps a rude comment.span Instead, the wife took her baby, sat on the bale behind me, and began to nurse her little one.span Her husband asked if she wanted a blanket to cover them, but she said “No”.span I was so happy.span We exchanged encouraging smiles and fed our babies.span
I
am so accustomed to being on the lookout for “offendable” people while
nursing in public that I never stopped to think there might be other
women out there like me.span I hadn’t really considered that by nursing out in the open, I might help other nursing mothers feel comfortable.span Maybe I will even influence mothers-to-be.span How wonderful it is to be helping others while doing something so simple, so easy, and so necessary.
~Kristi Wishspan